Authors’
note:All Harry
Potter characters, places etc already established in the books belong to JK
Rowling.All Captain Scarlet
characters, places etc already established in the television series belong to
Gerry Anderson. We only own the characters we created for this story.

“Imagine
an instant... That the world of Captain Scarlet and the world of Harry
Potter would be set in the same timeline, and in the same universe..."

Hermione sat in the Gryffindor
common room, looking through some notes when she heard a faint tapping on the
window.Looking round she saw a snowy
white owl fluttering just outside.

Getting
up, she crossed the room and opened the window just long enough for the bird to
fly in.Hermione watched it circle the
room and at first thought it was Hedwig, Harry’s owl.Upon a closer look she realised the markings were different and
that this owl was larger.“Reganbalde?”
she asked.The owl hooted and flew over
to her, landing on her shoulder.“Is
something wrong? Is it Arbus?”

Reganbalde
hooted once more and flew over to the portrait entrance.Hermione followed, checking her wand was in
its usual place on her belt.Opening
the portrait, she followed Reganbalde out.Thinking he was going to lead her to White’s room, she started to head
in that direction, but the owl hooted again, fluttering in a corridor the
opposite way.

Confused,
Hermione turned and followed again.‘Arbus said he was going back to his room,’
she thought.Worried that something had
happened, she picked up her pace.

White sat in the Room of
Requirements looking at the two bound boys, then at his wand.Hermione had said that he did a good job but
he never thought he’d be able to do two at once.

He was
drawn from his thoughts when the door opened and, looking up, he saw Hermione
walk in with Reganbalde.

She moved
over towards him, looking worried, then saw her two friends lying on the floor
near his feet.

“I came
back for my wand,” White said, drawing Hermione’s gaze from the pair.“I heard a noise behind me and just
reacted.They were wearing this at the
time.”He held up his arm, indicating
the invisibility cloak he’d pulled off them.

Hermione’s
face broke into a grin, then she started laughing.Looking down at her friends, she said, “That serves you right for
sneaking up on him then!” She looked back up at White.“Which one of them did you stun first?”

“I stunned
them both at the same time.I don’t
know how.”

Hermione
studied him carefully for a moment, then looked back round at her friends.“It’s quite an accomplishment to stun them
both at once after we only went over this today.Do you want to see if you can revive them both?”

White
looked at her, then nodded.“I’ll try.”

“Don’t
worry if you can’t do both of them.We
can take one each in that instance.”

“Alright.”White raised his wand and pointed at the two
boys, then upon saying the incantation watched as the pair of them began to
wake up again.

The
Colonel was too preoccupied looking at his wand in amazement to notice the
boys’ arms and legs loosening as the spell was lifted.

Harry and
Ron got to their feet and looked about, looking disbelieving.When they saw Hermione, ready to admonish
them, their expressions turned sheepish.

“We only
wanted to know what it was you were doing,” Ron said in a small voice.

“You were
snooping,” Hermione stated, raising an eyebrow, then looked over at White.“Are you alright?” she asked.

He looked
up at her.“Fine.I just didn’t think I’d be able to do that
straight away.”

“Do what?”
Harry asked.“Who the heck is he?”

‘These kids are so full of questions!’
White thought.

“His name
is Arbus,” Hermione said.“He’s here to
see Professor Dumbledore, but there’s not much else I can really tell you.You’re not supposed to know he’s here!”

“We won’t
tell anyone!” Ron argued.

White
smiled.“I trust you.Now, I need to get back to my quarters.May I borrow your invisibility cloak seeing
as I left mine back there?”

Harry
looked at him.“Uh, sure, but we’re
coming too.”

Hermione
looked ready to disagree, but White held up a hand.“They can join me for a short while.I’ve been wanting to meet the famous Harry Potter anyway.”

Harry
raised his eyebrow.He knew that many
people knew who he was, usually just by seeing the lightening shaped scar on
his forehead, but for some reason he doubted this was how this ‘Arbus’ person
knew who he was.

“You’re
here to see Professor Dumbledore?” Harry asked.

“Please,
I’ll answer questions once I’m back in my quarters,” White said, unfolding the
cloak hanging over his arm and putting it on.“Hermione, would you lead the way?”

They headed back to his room in
silence.The whole way there, Harry and
Ron exchanged glances, obviously curious about this man, and even more so that
Hermione seems to know more about him than shewas letting on.

Upon
reaching the entrance to the Colonel’s room, Hermione knocked the tiny door in
the portrait.White went in first,
going straight over to his bed to sit down, then was followed by Harry, Ron,
then Hermione.

“Have a
seat,” White said, as he folded up the invisibility cloak.Walking over to Harry, he handed it
back.“This is yours, I believe.”

“Yeah,
thanks,” Harry said.“Now, you said you
would answer our questions,” he began, but White interrupted him.

“Would you
like anything? I think you two should have some chocolate just in case,” he
said, looking directly at Harry and Ron as he removed his long black cloak and
hung it on a hook near the door.“I
didn’t mean to cast that spell on you, you understand.The least I can do is offer you some chocolate.”

“Sure,”
Ron said.

White
smiled and went over to his bedside table and waved a hand over a small
globe.It glowed pale red for a moment,
signaling to the Colonel that his call would soon be answered.The three Gryffindors couldn’t see what he
was doing, but a moment later, Dobby was walking into the room.“How can Dobby help, Sir?” he asked, then
looked around.“Harry Potter is here?
Arbus knows Harry Potter?”

“Hi,
Dobby,” Harry said, then looked over at the cloak White had just hung up.

“Dobby, I
was wondering if you’d have some chocolate brought in for my young friends,
here.Hot chocolate perhaps? I haven’t
had a mug of Hogwarts hot chocolate in a long time,” he stated.

Dobby
nodded and left.

“You have
a Gryffindor crest on your cloak,” Harry remarked, looking back to White.

“Yes, when
I was a student here, I was a Gryffindor.”

“You were
a student here?” Ron asked.“How long
ago?”

White
smiled.For the time-being their questions
were harmless, but he wasn’t worried if they should start to ask questions he
was not permitted to answer.“Many
years ago now.I started here as a
first-year at least 40 years ago.”

Ron’s eyes
went wide.“Whoa, that’s ages! That
must make you really old!”

Hermione
cringed at how blunt her companion was, then glared at him.White just chuckled.“Yes, well, to your standards, I am quite
old, but not as old as your Headmaster.”He looked up again as the door opened once more to reveal Dobby bearing
a tray of hot chocolate for them all.“Is there anything else Arbus wishes Dobby to bring?” the house-elf
asked after offering them all a mug.

White
pointed at the now pearly white globe resting on his bedside unit.“When I wave my hand over it, it calls Dobby
to me.”

Harry and
Ron both looked at Hermione as though daring her to say something about the way
house elves were treated.She had been
trying to persuade others that house-elves deserve the same pay, holiday and
work rights as any human, but few people listened to her due to the fact that
the elves’ lives were dedicated to serving wizards.It was just how they enjoyed living.

“So,
you’re here to see Dumbledore, then?” Harry asked, trying once more to get an
answer to this question.

“Yes, I
am.That’s the second time you’ve asked
that, Harry.Drink up your hot
chocolate, boys, and you, Hermione.It’ll go cold.”He picked up his
own mug and took a deep sip from it, sighing slightly as the taste he loved so
much brought back more memories for him.

“What do
you want to see him about?” Harry asked once more, trying his best to get the
information from him.

White
shifted in his seat.His left arm was
now folded across his chest, holding the elbow of his right arm.His right index finger was crooked on his
chin so he sat in a thoughtful pose.“Why
do you wish to know?”

“I was
just wondering why you’re here, that’s all.”

“You’re so
nosey, Harry!” Hermione said, taking another sip of her chocolate.

Harry
shrugged and finished his mug-full off, placing the empty cup down beside
him.“I was just curious.”

“It’s
private business I’m here for, Harry,” White said.

“What sort
of private business?” Ron asked.

“My, my,
so curious,” White said.They were
asking far too many probing questions.He had hoped he wouldn’t have to resort to this little trick of his, but
it appeared it was necessary.“I can’t
say,” he said, while, very discreetly, he extended his index finger to point it
at Harry and Ron in turn, concentrating briefly on each.After a moment, he returned his finger to
where it had been previously as though he’d done nothing.All this took the time it had taken to
speak.

He was
quite proud of this little spell.It
was one of the things that had helped him throughout his military career.If anyone had ever asked him a question he
didn’t want to or couldn’t answer for any reason, he would cast it over them
and they’d forget what they were asking.It was only a small spell, but he had found it useful over the years.

Harry and
Ron’s flow of questions had subsided now.White hadn’t felt it necessary to cast it over Hermione also because she
already knew most of the answers and he trusted her enough to keep the
information to herself.

“Now,
boys, and Hermione too, of course.It’s
getting late.I feel assured that
you’re as tired as I am,” he said, standing up, the three young Gryffindor
students following suit.“It was a
pleasure to meet you, but as I still have a lot of work to do, I would like to
get an early night.”As he said this,
he threw a meaningful glance at Hermione, who smiled at him.

He walked
them to the door, then once they had gone, went over to his bed and collapsed
backwards onto it, looking up at the ceiling.He picked up his wand again and looked at it, thinking once more of his
ability to cast on two people at once. Shrugging the thought off, he got up again and started to change
for bed.

The following morning, White woke
up, then washed and dressed, readying himself for the day.

Though the
house-elves always came in and tried to insist on making his bed for him, the
Colonel would not allow them to, assuring them that he would do it in the way
he was used to and preferred.

He
finished fastening his long cloak and looked around to his bedside table where
his pearly white globe sat.Walking
over to it, he passed his hand over it and awaited the arrival of Dobby.

He knew it
wouldn’t be long, but he thought he might as well start to practice some
more.Picking up his wand, he looked
around, wondering what spell he could practice.He smiled to himself when he thought of the summoning spell he
was getting so good at.

“Accio pillow!” he cried and a pillow
from his bed rushed into his hand.He
looked at it, grinning, then thought of another spell he could try.

Holding the
pillow out in front of him, he pointed his wand at it again.“Mobiliarbus,”
he said, watching as the pillow floated above his hand.He started to move his wand to direct the
pillow back to his bed and rested it exactly back where it had been before releasing
the spell.

“Well
done, Arbus, Sir,” came a little voice from behind him.

White
turned and looked down.“How long have
you been stood there, Dobby?”

“Not long,
Sir.Just long enough to watch you
practice.Arbus is a very good wizard
to lay the pillow back so perfectly.”

“Well, uh,
thank you, Dobby,” he said, blushing slightly.

“Arbus is
most welcome.Did Arbus want
something?”

“Yes,
Dobby.I’d like some breakfast,
please.”

“The same
as yesterday, Sir?”

White
thought for a moment, then decided.“No, I’d like just some toast and butter today.”

“Alright
then, Arbus, Sir.”And with that, Dobby
wandered out again.

White
watched him leave, then turned his attention back to his room, wondering what
he could practice now.In the end he
decided to just practice something simple until he met up with Hermione again
and started levitating things round his room.

When Dobby
walked back in carrying a tray of toast and a pot of tea, White was so absorbed
in his practicing that he levitated Dobby before he even realised he was doing
it.

“Oh, I’m
sorry, Dobby!” White said, embarrassedly as he lowered him back to the floor.

“No need,
Arbus, Sir, Dobby is here to help.Arbus can practice on Dobby if he wishes.”

White
chuckled.“I think if I did that, I’d
warn you first.”

Dobby
offered a grin to the Colonel as the man sat down, then offered him the tray of
toast.

White bent
his head over it as he picked up a slice, then noticed that Dobby was looking
at him with a peculiar expression.“What’s the matter?”

“Dobby is
curious.Was Arbus meaning to change
his hair?”

The
Colonel frowned.“Change my hair? What
do you mean?”

“Your hair
has changed, Sir.Go look.”

Placing
aside the tray, White picked up his wand.“Accio mirror,” he called out,
summoning a small handheld mirror from the other side of the room.Sure enough, Dobby was right.His hair was changing.It had gone from being totally silvery white
to now having streaks of mid-brown.White frowned again as he looked, running his hand through it.“What the-?”

“Was Arbus
meaning to change his hair?” Dobby asked again.

“No I
wasn’t! How has this happened?”

“Perhaps
Arbus could asked Professor Dumbledore.”

“Perhaps I
should,” White grumbled.

“Arbus
should finish his breakfast first,” Dobby suggested.“Dobby knows that Professor Dumbledore is having his breakfast
too right now.”

“Alright,
thank you, Dobby.I’ll go and see him
once I’m done here.”Picking up a slice
of toast, White returned to his breakfast, all the while stealing glances at
the mirror.

As soon as he had finished, and Dobby had left
with the breakfast things, White went over to his fireplace and pointed his
wand at it.“Incendio,” he said, watching as a fire roared into life.He picked up a pot from the fireside, then
threw some powder onto the blaze, making the flames turn bright green.“Professor Dumbledore’s office!” he said,
then crouched down and put his head into the flames.He had long forgotten the tickling sensation around his neck as
the flames whipped around him, but even more strange was feeling as though his
head were moving and not his body.

Finally he
saw the familiar surroundings of Dumbledore’s office and spotted the older man
sat at his desk sharing a slice of toast with Fawkes.

“Yes.It’s making you look younger as it would
have done had you stayed in our world.The longer and more often you practice, the more it’ll change back,
you’ll find.”

White
glanced upward towards his hair as though expecting to see it all totally
mid-brown.Dumbledore smiled at him
again.“Am I right in thinking your
practices are going well?”

The
Colonel nodded.“I believe so.Unfortunately, Harry Potter and his friend –
Ron, is it? –” Dumbledore nodded.“They
know I’m here.I left my wand in the
practice room last night and went back to get it.I heard them behind me and stunned them both.”

Dumbledore
chuckled.“Yes, I heard.Hermione spoke to me this morning about your
ability to stun them both simultaneously, then revive them in the same manner.”White blushed slightly.“She also gave an account of something that
happened.Something about the two young
boys asking too many questions, all of which you were dodging, quite nicely in
fact, then they suddenly stopped asking.Does that ring any bells?”

“You’d be
surprised what young Harry has seen in his six years here,” Dumbledore said,
the happy twinkle fading from his eyes briefly.

“Yes, I
remember you saying in your correspondence.He must have been through a lot throughout his life to look at him.”

The older
man nodded.“Yes, he has.But we’re not here to talk about Harry.I do understand why you cannot tell them.I believe what you meant to say was that it
is classified information, am I correct?”

White
nodded.“Yes, that is more to the
point.”

“So, you
cast your spell on them.”

The
Colonel knew this wasn’t a question.“Yes, I did.”

Dumbledore
shook his head, chuckling slightly.“I
was wondering how long you would be here before you needed to use it.”

“I’m not
going to use it on staff!” White insisted, reminding the headmaster suddenly of
his young grandson on the evening of his first day of lessons.The younger man seemed to be thinking along
the same lines as well.“I said the
same thing at our tea on my first day, didn’t I?”

Dumbledore
nodded.“Yes, you did.Though you tried it once, didn’t you?”

“Yes,
Professor McGonagall gave me such an evil stare when she saw me move into that
posture.”

“I know, I
remember her telling me about it later.”

The two
continued to talk for most of the day, then progressed onto letting the Colonel
practice in the office, with Dumbledore providing guidance and offering
suggestions of spells he might be able to use.

*****

Back up on Cloudbase, the senior
staff were having a meeting without their Colonel.This had only occurred a few times, but normally they knew where
he had gone.Despite this, however,
they continued as ordered.They may not
have known where the Colonel was, but they had been told he would be leaving,
and for a secret location at that.Captain Blue, having been asked to be the stand-in commander, was
leading the meeting.

“Has
anything else been reported that could be a lead to this threat?” Blue asked,
looking around his fellow officers.

“No,
Captain,” Grey answered.“We have been
searching the databanks since the threat was announced, but this is so vague.”

“If only
the Colonel had given us more of a clue,” Scarlet said.“He seemed to have an idea of its meaning
before he left.”

“Which
brings us nicely onto our next point,” Blue said.“Have we had any more luck in finding out how he got off the base
yet?”

“None,
Captain,” Scarlet offered.“I am going
back to his quarters to see if I can find anything that may point us in the
right direction.”

“Well, all
we need to find out is how he got off the base without our knowing.We shouldn’t really go looking for him.”

Scarlet
nodded at the stand-in commander.“Yes,
I know.”

Blue
sighed.“We don’t seem to be doing very
well with this one.I can only hope
that the help the Colonel said he was getting will be enough.If there is nothing else, you are
dismissed.”

The
assembled Captains and Angels all stood as one and filed out the door.“Captain Scarlet?” Blue called out, just
before the British man was about to leave.

“Yes,
Captain?” Scarlet asked, turning to face him.

Blue
waited until everyone had left before speaking.“Are you going straight to his quarters now?”

“Yes, I
am.”

“I know
you will, but I feel I need to say this anyway.Try your best not to intrude on too much.Those are his personal quarters after all.”

“Yes, I
know.I’ll do what I can without
breaching privacy.”

Scarlet walked through the
corridors briskly.Upon reaching the
door to the Colonel’s quarters, he unlocked it and stepped in.

It looked
exactly the same in there as it had done the night they had found him
gone.The bed was immaculately made,
not a crease in the sheets.The shelves
were stacked full of books, all arranged in tidy rows and in alphabetical order
by author.This was the room of a very
organised person.Not a single item was
out of place.

Scarlet
looked around, then noticed he had thought wrong.There was an item out of place.A smallish stone was lying on the desk near a framed picture.As he moved over to it, it caught the light,
and he saw a multitude of colours reflect off it.

He picked
it up and held it in his hand, looking it over, then grasped it as he looked
over the rest of the desk.He frowned
slightly when he saw a picture of the Colonel with another, much older,
man.Picking it up, he took a closer
look.There was a small piece of paper
in the corner of the frame, and Scarlet recognised the Colonel’s
handwriting.He looked again to see
what it said.

“Grandfather?”

Suddenly
the stone seemed to glow and feel warmer.Scarlet let go of it just as there was a bright flash, then the room
seemed to literally disappear.

Scarlet didn’t remember closing his
eyes, but when he opened them again, he was surprised to find that he was no
longer surrounded by books, but trees.

Automatically,
the Captain activated his comm.“Cloudbase from Captain Scarlet.”He listened for an answer which wouldn’t come.He couldn’t even hear the usual faint humming that indicated he
had a connection.He frowned and tried
again but received the same results.

His brow
furrowed more at this, thenhedecided to look around to get a better idea of
where he was.He found he was standing
in a forest which was composed of the tallest trees he had ever seen, but once
he turned around, he realised he was at the edge of it and that there was a
castle ahead of him.His mouth opened
slightly as he took in the vastness of the building and he was so occupied by
it that he didn’t realise someone was heading his way from the forest.

Upon
hearing a twig snap, he instantly reached for his pistol and spun round to face
the person trying to sneak up on him, but almost dropped the weapon in amazement
when he realised the person he was looking at was huge.

He,
himself, was a tall man, but this man who had just appeared from the forest was
easily 2 foot, maybe more, taller than him.He wore a long moleskin overcoat and had a long shaggy beard with hair
to match it.

The
stranger saw Scarlet and reacted just as the Captain had done, dropping the
plants he was carrying and raising his crossbow.

“Who are
yeh and how did yeh get here!” he bellowed.

It took
only a further moment for Scarlet to regain himself and answer
confidently.“I’m Captain Scarlet,
Spectrum.Who are you?”

“How did
yeh get here?” the stranger repeated.

Scarlet
looked at him, then decided a truthful answer would suffice.“I don’t know.I was trying to locate something and ended up here.I couldn’t tell you how.”

The
stranger looked him over, taking in his bright red uniform, then saw what he
was holding.“Wha’s that in yeh hand?”

The
Captain looked down at his hand and noticed he still had hold of the picture
frame he had found in the Colonel’s room.“A picture.”

The man
stepped forward and took it from him to look at it, then frowned.“Tha’s Arbus an’ the Perfessor Dumbledore.”

“Arbus?”
Scarlet asked, confused.

“Yeah,
Arbus,” Hagrid said, studying the picture for a moment, wearing a frown.“They’re not movin’,” he said.

“Who
aren’t?” the Captain questioned.

“Arbus and
the Perfessor.”

Scarlet
raised an eyebrow.“Right.”He looked around again.From what he could gather, this could have
been how the Colonel had gotten off the base undetected, even if he couldn’t
explain it.He and Blue had agreed that
he wouldn’t go looking for the Colonel, and had he known about the properties
of that stone, he would have left it at that.However, he himself had been transported off the base also, with no way
of knowing how to get back again.He
wondered if, by any chance, the Colonel might know what was going on.“Can I ask what your name is?”

Hagrid
seemed to raise an eyebrow, though it was hard to tell from the amount of hair
surrounding his face.“Are yeh a
Muggle?”

“A what?”

“I thought
so.”Hagrid heaved a great sigh.Magical folk all knew what a Muggle was,
only Muggles didn’t.“I think yeh’d
better come with me.I’ll take yeh to
me hut.You shouldn’t be here.”

“No, I
know.I got here purely by accident,”
Scarlet admitted.He looked at the
picture Hagrid had returned to him.“I
was looking for this man, Arbus you say his name is?”

“Yeah,
tha’s him.Why were yeh lookin’ fer
him?”

“Private
business.You don’t know where he is,
do you?”

“Can’t
tell yeh, I’m afraid.If yeh’d come to me
hut, you can wait there while I get Perfessor Dumbledore.He should know yeh here.”

“All
right,” Scarlet agreed.At least if he
was going to see this Professor Dumbledore, he may find out something
more.And judging by what this Hagrid
had said, it was a Professor Dumbledore in the picture with the Colonel.

Quietly,
Scarlet followed Hagrid to a large hut near the edge of the forest.As they drew nearer, Scarlet heard what
sounded like a very large dog barking.

Hagrid
noticed his expression.“Don’ worry,
it’s jus’ Fang.”

“Fang?”
Scarlet asked, a little more apprehensive.

“Yeah,”
Hagrid said, opening the door.A large
black dog bounded out and over to Hagrid.Scarlet raised an eyebrow as he watched.The dog may be large and ominous looking, but to watch him he
looked harmless enough.Perhaps it was
just the name ‘Fang’ that had given him a moment to worry.

“Can I
trust yeh to wait in here while I get the Perfessor?”

“Of
course,” Scarlet assured.

“Alrigh’,
I’ll be righ’ back,” Hagrid said, then left the hut, shutting the door behind
him.Scarlet looked around at his
surroundings, taking in the enormity of most of the items.They were quite a bit larger than anything
he’d ever seen before.He looked around
some more and noticed the things hanging from the ceiling and the trinkets (if
objects that large could be called trinkets).This was obviously the home of some sort of hunter or gamekeeper,
Scarlet thought.

Looking
around again, he moved to sit in an oversized chair.Once sat, Fang came over to him and rested his head on his knee,
his face plainly asking for some attention.

Reaching
out a hand, he started to hesitantly stroke the dog, feeling that what he saw
previously could be deceptive, but as soon as the dog’s eyes half closed and his
tongue lolled out of his mouth, Scarlet knew he was alright.Though he didn’t really enjoy the fact that
Fang was drooling over his trousers now.

Dumbledore was still in his office
with White when they both heard knocking.

“Who is
it?” Dumbledore called out, ready to give the word to the Colonel as to whether
or not to stay out of sight.

“Hagrid,
Perfessor.”

“Come on
in, Hagrid,” the Professor replied.

The door
opened and the half-giant walked in.“Perfessor, there’s a gentleman here, says he’s from Spectrum an’ calls
himself Cap’ain Scarlet.He’s wearin’ a
uniform like Arbus was wearin’ when he got here, jus’ it’s red.”

White
looked up sharply upon hearing the word ‘Spectrum’, then looked almost annoyed
upon hearing the codename.“Scarlet?
Oh no.How in the name of Merlin’s
beard did he get here?”

“He didn’t
seem to know either, Perfessor,” Hagrid offered.“He’s in me hut at the minute.Said he was lookin’ fer you, Arbus.Had a picture of you with the Perfessor.”

White
frowned as he thought.“He must have
found the picture I have of the two of us.It’s fortunate that wasn’t a moving picture, I don’t think I’d have been
able to explain that easily.”

“Arbus, go
back to your room and get your invisibility cloak,” Dumbledore suggested.“I think we should go and talk to him,
though only one of us be present.”

White was
on his feet straight away and heading for the fireplace.“Yes, Grandfather.”

While the
Colonel flooed back to his room to collect the cloak, Dumbledore and Hagrid
waited in the office.Upon his return,
they left as soon as White put it on, heading straight for Hagrid’s hut.

Scarlet sat in the chair in the hut waiting for
Hagrid to return, with Fang’s head still resting in his lap and soaking his
trousers.Absentmindedly he was patting
the dog’s head.

He looked
up when the door opened and Hagrid returned with the bearded man from the
Colonel’s picture.His long silver
beard reflected the little light that shone in through the window and his robes
reached the floor.If Scarlet had been
shocked by the appearance of Hagrid, he was certainly amazed by this man’s
appearance.His picture was an accurate
portrayal, but seeing him standing in front of him left the Captain momentarily
speechless.

Dumbledore
walked over to him and offered his hand.“Good afternoon, my name is Albus Dumbledore.I hear you’re a little lost, Sir?”

“You could
put it that way.I have no idea how I
got here.I was told that perhaps you
would be able to help me?”

“I’ll
certainly try,” the Professor said, gesturing back to the seats.“Hagrid, would you be so kind as to make us
some drinks?”

“Course,
Perfessor,” Hagrid answered, moving away to busy himself at the other side of
his hut.

Dumbledore
turned back to Scarlet.“Now, can you
tell me what you were doing before you got here in as much detail as you can.”

“I’m
afraid what I can tell you may be fragmented because of some things being
confidential.”

“I
understand,” Dumbledore said, nodding.“Just give as much as you can.”

“I was
looking for any information I could find that may point to how an incident on
our base occurred.One of the crew got
off the base without our knowledge.They had returned to their quarters and less than ten minutes later they
were no longer on the base.I have been
ordered to investigate for any clues, and I started my search in the missing
person’s private quarters.”

Beneath
his invisibility cloak, White stiffened.‘So,’ he thought.‘Scarlet’s
been in my quarters.’He shook his
head.‘I’ll bet I know what he was doing before he appeared here!’

“There
wasn’t really anything to find that was out of the ordinary, aside from one
item.A small and colourful stone.I picked it up to look at it and a few
moments later I found myself stood in the forest here.”

Dumbledore
had been sat silently throughout this, a thoughtful expression on his
face.“Did you do anything else?”

“I did
find a picture,” he said, offering the photo he’d found to the older man.“I’m assuming based on what Hagrid has told
me that you are the man from the photo.”

“Yes,
indeed I am,” Dumbledore said.He
looked over the picture, having been a long time since he had seen it last,
then noticed the small piece of paper in the corner that Scarlet had seen.“Am I right in assuming you read the word on
this paper?”

“I think I
did, yes.”

“Then I
believe I know how you got here.Tell
me, could you see the castle?”

“See it?”
Scarlet asked, confusion clearly written on his face.“How can you miss it?”

Dumbledore
nodded. “I see.”At this point, Hagrid returned with an
oversized teapot and three large cups on a tray which he placed on the
table.“Hagrid, a word outside for a
moment if you will.”

“O’
course, Perfessor,” Hagrid said, moving over to the door and opening it for
him.Scarlet noticed that Professor
Dumbledore hesitated, letting Hagrid pass by first, then stepped outside after
him.He felt very confused by this
point, and things weren’t getting any easier with questions about being able to
see a castle that was so plainly there.

Once outside, Dumbledore spoke in a
quiet tone.“You know this man, Arbus?”

“Yes, I
do,” came a disembodied voice from beside the Headmaster.“He is one of my officers.He must have been holding my stone when he
read out the annotation on my photograph.Trust him,” he added with a tut.

Dumbledore
smiled slightly, finding this a little amusing, but still spoke in a serious
tone.“So, he arrived here by magical
means and can see the castle.Hagrid,
is there anything about him you can tell me?”

“Oh,
yeah.When he said he didn’t know where
he was, I jus’ asked him whether he was a Muggle or not.”

“Oh, he’s
a Muggle, alright,” White’s voice said.“How can he see the castle though? I thought there were Muggle repelling
charms on it to make them believe it was a derelict decrepit old ruin?”

“There
are, but one can only assume that because he arrived here by a magical method
he has broken some of the charms.”

“Trust
him,” White said again and Dumbledore could tell by a shuffling sound that his
grandson was shaking his head.“What
will we do with him?”

“I was
hoping you would be able to give a suggestion,” the Professor said, looking to
where the voice had been coming from.

White felt
unnerved as though he could see through the cloak and was looking right into
his eyes.“Me?”

“Yes,
well, after all, as you said, he is one of your officers.No doubt he wants to know where you went,
perhaps we should let him know.”

“What?
Why?”

“You and I
both know you are here because of a Mysteron threat,” Dumbledore said, his
voice low so Hagrid couldn’t hear.“As
much as you training to perfect your powers will help, you will still need the
help of your officers.”

“But none of them are magical.”

“Don’t be
so sure.Just as they didn’t know about
you, so too could there be people you didn’t know about, they not knowing whom
they can trust.Now, I suggest we go
and introduce Captain Scarlet to ‘Arbus’.”Dumbledore had a definite twinkle in his eyes by now.“For now I suggest you refrain from talking,
he’ll recognise your voice, but he may not recognise you yourself, looking as
young as you do.You did quite a bit of
practicing in my office today and it has certainly taken its toll on you.Your hair is almost completely brown now and
your face more youthful.”More
shuffling gave the Professor the impression that he had just embarrassed the
younger man, and he smiled again.“Come, take off the cloak and give it to Hagrid, he can take it inside
for you.”

The two
watched as White reappeared from under the cloak, his face still flushed
slightly from the comment about his appearance.He handed the cloak to Hagrid and straightened his hair and
robes, then nodded to Dumbledore.

Scarlet looked up as the door
opened and Hagrid and the Professor walked back in.He frowned slightly when another man came into view from behind
Hagrid.“Who’s this?” he immediately
asked, not recognising him for who he was.

“This is a
friend of mine who may be able to help you when the time comes,” Dumbledore
said, watching as White offered Scarlet a hand to shake.

White stood
back, smiling slightly.He had found it
quite amusing that Scarlet had treated him as someone new and not his
Commander-in-Chief.

“You say
his name is Arbus?” Scarlet questioned.

“Yes,
why?” Dumbledore asked.

“According
to Hagrid, the man in the photo with you is named Arbus.”

Dumbledore
looked round at Hagrid who had a sheepish sort of look on his face.“Arbus is quite a common name around here,”
Dumbledore answered, looking back.“In
fact, quite a few of our common names are unusual to your standards.”

“What do
you mean?”

“I mean
that this is a world quite different to your own.I’m afraid, Captain Scarlet, that you have accidentally stumbled
across a world which has been hidden for many, many centuries.A world which does not wish to be found.”

The
Mysteron threat suddenly repeated itself in Scarlet’s mind.They would bring to light that which does
not wish to be found.“What world?”

“The
magical world, Sir,” Dumbledore said, calmly, and noted the expression on the
young man’s face.

Scarlet
raised an eyebrow.“Magical? You’re
joking, right?”

“Would you
like a demonstration for proof?”

“Demonstration?
This I have to see.”

Dumbledore
put his hand into his robes and drew out a long thin piece of wood, then
glanced at White.The other shrugged
slightly, then nodded.The Professor
turned back to face Scarlet and pointed the piece of wood at him.“Wingardium
Leviosa!” he said in a clear voice.

In White’s
opinion, the expression now on Scarlet’s face was priceless.He had looked down to find himself hovering
a foot above the floor and had yelped, his face going pale.

“Okay, I
believe you, just put me down!”

Dumbledore
smiled and lowered him down gently.“You, Captain Scarlet, are very fortunate.You are what we call a Muggle, a non-magical person.Aside from Muggle parents of some of our
students, no other Muggle has ever seen our castle.”

“Students?”

Dumbledore merely placed a hand on
his shoulder and lead him to the door so he could look at the castle.“Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry.”